Tuesday, 15 October 2024


Questions without notice and ministers statements

Mental health services


Georgie CROZIER, Ingrid STITT

Mental health services

Georgie CROZIER (Southern Metropolitan) (12:19): (679) My question is to the Minister for Mental Health. Since the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System presented its final report to the government in the Royal Exhibition Building, access to mental health support in the community has worsened, and the workforce remains at critically low levels. Why has the government broken its promise to people with lived experience, carers and mental health workers that the Labor government would implement all recommendations of the royal commission?

Ingrid STITT (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Mental Health, Minister for Ageing, Minister for Multicultural Affairs) (12:20): I thank Ms Crozier very much for that question because it allows me to dispel some of the misinformation that has been peddled by those opposite. I have been on the record many times, both in the chamber and publicly out in the community, confirming the Allan Labor government’s absolute commitment to the work of the royal commission and our absolute commitment to implement every single one of the royal commission’s recommendations. In fact there would not be a day that goes by where I am not having a conversation with a peak body or a stakeholder about the importance of this work.

My department has been working incredibly hard. We have commenced the implementation of 90 per cent of the 74 recommendations that the royal commission has made, and we have seen many additional services delivered in the community, which I am happy to elaborate on in great detail if that is what the opposition would like me to do. For example, we now have 15 mental health and wellbeing locals out there in the community right across regional and rural Victoria and metropolitan Melbourne that have already assisted 11,000 Victorians. Let us not forget that before the royal commission handed down its final report people only had two choices: turn up at an emergency department and wait for a mental health bed or go to their GP and spend hundreds of dollars on a private psychiatrist or psychologist through a GP referral.

We are absolutely rebuilding the system so that no matter where you live in Victoria and no matter what your pay packet is you can actually get access to free mental health supports right across the community. This is a 10-year reform journey. So we are not going to take lectures from those opposite when our government held the royal commission, committed to implementing every single one of the recommendations and had the political courage to strike a levy that is absolutely dedicated to building the mental health system that Victorians deserve. If you talk to any family out in the community, you will hear time and time again how important this is. We know that youth mental health is a critical issue in the community. I am proud to be part of a government that is serious about reforming the system, and I will continue to support our incredible mental health workforce in the very challenging work that they do right across the system, whether that is in the community or in our acute end of the sector.

Georgie CROZIER (Southern Metropolitan) (12:23): Minister, in the royal commission’s report the chair Penny Armytage said the system had ‘catastrophically failed to live up to expectations’. Why, three years later, has the Allan Labor government again catastrophically failed to live up to the expectations of those waiting for mental health support by scrapping the implementation of all the recommendations of the royal commission? You just said ‘90 per cent’ – that is not all.

Ingrid STITT (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Mental Health, Minister for Ageing, Minister for Multicultural Affairs) (12:23): Well, I do not know if you were listening, Ms Crozier, and through the President I will address this point, because it is pretty important. It is very unfortunate that those opposite seek to mislead the community about what is going on here and scaremonger, because the reality is that through our reforms and through striking the hypothecated mental health levy we are actually doubling the investment year on year that we have made in mental health. We collect about $1 billion through the levy, and our current output for this budget year alone is almost $3 billion. They might want to actually spend a bit of time reading the budget papers, which very clearly set out what our reform agenda is. The royal commission’s final report was very clear: this is a 10-year reform journey and a job that we are all absolutely committed to delivering.